Skenfrith is said, at the entrance of the Normans into the district, to have been held by Bach, a son of Cadivor ap Gwaethvoed, which Gwaethvoed is the reputed ancestor of several families in Monmouthshire and East Glamorgan, and who, or his father, was likely enough to have obtained possession of it during the victorious campaign of Caradoc-ap-Griffith in 1065. The Pipe Roll of the first year of John shows the castles of Skenfrith, Llanteilo or White Castle, Kinton, and Ledbury, to have belonged to the king; and in 1205 (5 John) he granted Skenfrith, Llanteilo, and Grosmount to William de Breos, to hold them as they had been held by Hubert de Burgh, and Geoffrey, Earl of Essex, was allowed 20 marcs which he had paid to De Burgh for fortifying them. This probably was the date of the present masonry. John de Monmouth, a powerful local baron, had some claim upon these castles, which was admitted by the king; but nevertheless, in 1219, De Burgh was ordered to have seizin of the three castles forfeited by the defection of William de Breos. William’s heir was Reginald de Breos, who was in ill-health; he demurred to the decision of the king’s court. In 1220 they were held by De Burgh. In 1223 the king had occasion to send a messenger to Skenfrith, and in 1224 the Sheriff of Hereford was directed to send thither to De Burgh 2,000 quarrels (heads of cross-bow bolts), and all through the troubled reign of Henry III. these castles continued to be of great military importance. At the settlement of Wales by his son they probably were allowed to fall to ruin. With most of the surrounding property Skenfrith finally fell to the Duchy of Lancaster. As early as the time of James I. it was presented by the local jury as “ruinous and decayed, time out of the memory of man.”
The parish church, containing some fragments of early English or early Decorated date, stands a few yards west of the castle. It contains an altar tomb, bearing the effigies in a sort of trick of John Morgan, who died 2nd September, 1557, and Ann, his wife, who died 4th January, 1564. On the side of the tomb are figures in relief. The armorial bearings are,—quarterly, 1 and 4, Barry of 9, on six escutcheons, 3, 2, 1, as many lioncels rampant, 2 and 3, three towers, in the nombril point a roundel. Evidently these are the arms of Cecil, and point to the connexion claimed by that family with Wales. Another shield bears on a chevron three sprigs, between three spear-heads; crest, an arm embowed grasping a ——. John Morgan is said to have been of Wayne, in this parish.
THE ANCIENT DEFENCES OF SOUTHAMPTON.
AT the head of the inlet known as Southampton Water, between its two principal tributaries of the Test or Anton and the Itchen, intervenes a considerable neck or tongue of gravel, which is thus bounded on three sides by water, and is a position of considerable natural strength, and the more valuable that it overlooks a fine roadstead, having the Isle of Wight for its breakwater. By whom this spot was first occupied is unknown. Bittern, an unquestionable Roman station, under the name of Clausentum, is nearly two miles farther up the Itchen, and upon the opposite bank. Even the origin of the present name of the town is a subject of dispute. The Anton presents a tempting source, but it seems most probable that the name means simply “the town of the southern dwelling,” as opposed to Northam, a place close to the Roman station. Certainly the name has no reference to Northampton.
“Hamtunscire” is mentioned in the “Saxon Chronicle” in A.D. 755, and the town was a Saxon place of some mark, coining money in the reign of Athelstane, and occasionally plundered by the Danes. Canute held it, and his experiment upon the advancing tide is said to have been tried in Southampton Water.
Southampton is named in Domesday, and the Normans found it a convenient port both for military and commercial purposes. It was visited and maintained by the Plantagenet monarchs, who here mustered and embarked their troops for Normandy. Hence the town was fortified from an early period, both after the Saxon and the Norman fashion.
The walls enclosed a roughly rectangular space, averaging about 370 yards east and west, by 770 yards north and south, but in actual circuit about 2,200 yards, or 1¼ mile. This area is divided lengthways by the main street, but the western is the larger moiety, partly because it contains the older castle, and partly because of an irregular projection upon what is called the “tin shore.” The north and south gates were upon the main street. There was an east and a west gate, but not at all opposite to each other, nor were the roads cruciform. There is no reason for attributing to the moderately rectangular plan a Roman origin. It was probably dictated by the general figure of the ground.
The surface of the area varies from 15 feet to 35 feet above the adjacent sea level. The northern half is higher than the southern, the western than the eastern. The highest ground, therefore, is in the north-west quarter, where was the castle.
In consequence of this, the wall of this quarter, towards the west, is built against a scarped bank, and is a revetment 30 feet high, whereas elsewhere the wall is built upon ground nearly level, or at best not above 3 feet or 4 feet higher on the inner than the outer side. Besides the castle there is no considerable earthwork, and no reason, therefore, for attributing the defences of the town proper to a period earlier than the incoming of the Normans.